G

N E

VOL. 33, NO.6

2005

CONTENTS

COVERS

Straight and Level

VAA News

Reminiscing with Big Nick

photo plane flown by Bruce Moore.

ox-s Annual Reunion

BACK COVER: Willie Ropp restored this CurtissWright

by Nick Rezich

Travel Air over 15 years ago, and he and his daughter,

FRONT COVER: Frank Schilling spent over 31 years restor

ing this Curtiss Jenny. Read about his amazing journey
starting on page 18. EM photo by chief photographer Jim
Koepnick, shot with a Canon EOS 1 on Fuji Velvia film. EM

Belle Hutchins, recently put it back on floats. We last saw

10

The Vintage Instructor

it at Sun 'n Fun back in 1991. Nicely compensating for

Decisions, Decisions!
by Doug Stewart

of flights during the Sun 'n Fun production seaplane fly-in

Pass it to Buck
by Buck Hilbert

11

Sun In Fun
A great place to meet friends and fly airplanes
by H.G. Frautschy and Kathie Ernst

18

on the western shore of Lake Parker in Lakeland, Florida.

VM photo by H.G. Frautschy, shot with a Canon EOS 200
equipped with a Canon 80-200mm image-stabilized lens,
1/320 sec @ flO.

Al Menasco Aviation Pion eer.

Part III
by Chet Wellman

14

a strong wind from the northeast, Belle made a number

The Other Hisso Jenny

Thirty-one years in the making,
Frank Schelling's Jenny is a delight
by H.G. Frautschy

24

Chapter Locator

26

Mystery Plane
by H.G. Frautschy

28

Classified Ads

32

Calendar

STAFF

Publisher
EditorinChief
Executive Director/Editor
Administrative Assistant
Managing Editor
News Editor
Photography
Production Manager
Classified Ad Manager
Copy Editor

Tom Poberezny
Scott Spangler
H.G. Frautschy
Jennifer Lehl
Kathleen Witman
Ric Reynolds
Jim Koepnick
Bonnie Bartel
Julie Russo
Isabelle Wiske
Colleen Walsh

Director of Advertising

Katrina Bradshaw

Display Advertising Representatives:

Northeast: Allen Murray
Phone 6092651666, FAX 6092651661 email: oilelllllurray@milldsprillg.com
Southeast: Chester Baumgartner
Phone 727-573-0586, FAX 727-556-0177 e-mail; c/)(l"mlll@mindspring.com
Central: Todd Reese
Phone 8004449932, FAX 816741-6458 e-mail: todd@;pc-mag.com
Mountain & Pacific: Keith Knowlton & Associates
Phone 770-516-2743, FAX 770-516-9743 e-mail: kkllowltoll@eoo.org

GEOFF ROBISON
PRESIDENT, VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

Friends
t has been a great start to the
spring flying season. Sun 'n
Fun was a really good time for
me, and a wonderful oppor
tunity to renew a lot of old friend
ships. I think it's now best that I
stop talking about the weather in
this column, because every time I
bring it up, it gets a little weirder. I
was in Oshkosh on the first of May,
and as I was cleaning my camper af
ter getting it out of storage, it actu
ally started spitting snow. So, at the
risk of causing a hurricane in Wis
consin, I'm done talking about the
weather, at least until next spring!
In the April "Straight & Level"
column, I mentioned how impressed
I was with a Diamond Level Friends
of the Red Barn donation from VAA
Chapter 11 in Brookfield, Wisconsin.
Well, ladies and gents, I am pleased
to report on yet another Diamond
Level donation from VAA Chapter
10 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. You folks
are also to be commended for such
a generous gesture to your Vin
tage organization. It should also be
noted that a number of folks from
VAA Chapter 10 have supported the
Friends of the Red Barn fund from
its inception; some contribute not
only as part of the Chapter, but also
as individuals. Many thanks to you
all, and please be assured that we
will be diligent in using your dona
tions in the best possible fashion
for all the VAA membership's bene
efit at the annual event we all know
as EAA AirVenture. These dona
tions are put into a restricted fund
that is used only for the purpose
of supporting and enhanCing the
Vintage activities at EAA AirVen
ture each year. I would be remiss

if I did not thank each and every

one of our "friends" who have sup
ported the fund drive for this year's
event and past events. I hope you
are all in a position to attend, and
reap the much deserved benefits of
your generous donations.
For those of you who may have
had an occasion to communicate
with the Vintage Aircraft Associa
tion through our offices in Osh
kosh , you probably have spoken
with our administrative assistant,
Theresa Books. Theresa has been
with the VAA for nearly five years,
and she recently announced plans
to leave her employment with us
to assist her husband in a new busi
ness venture. Theresa will be sorely
missed at VAA. As some of you are
aware, Theresa was more than an
employee at VAA. This lady had a
real passion for our association, and
we have some large shoes to fill in
her absence. Theresa, we all thank
you for your excellent service to the
VAA. Your team spirit will be sin
cerely missed, and we all wish you
nothing but blue skies in your fam
ily's business endeavors.
On the same note, those big shoes
I speak of have already been filled.
We are pleased to inform the mem
bership that Jennifer Lehl, who pre
viously worked with the EAA in the
Membership Services Department,
has agreed to serve as our new ad
ministrative assistant. Welcome
aboard, Jennifer! We are all looking
forward to working with you at the
Vintage Aircraft Association.
At Paul Poberezny's request, the
VAA has agreed to restore a signif
icant artifact that is currently in
the inventory of the EAA . Harold

Neumann's Monocoupe 90AW is

in a pretty sorry state of appear
ance, and your VAA volunteer corps
has agreed to take on this worthy
project and return it to its original
glory. The aircraft will be restored
to airworthy condition, with the in
tent of displaying it in the EAA Air
Venture Museum. This restoration
will also serve as an educational op
portunity at EAA AirVenture this
year. We hope to prep the one-piece
wing and have it and the tail sur
faces covered during EAA AirVen
ture 200S. We'll have more on this
project in the July issue.
To accomplish this, our plans
include increasing the size of our
metal working tent and having the
Monocoupe disassembled and on
display. We have recruited a former
Monocoupe owner and restorer to
take the lead in this project. Phil
Riter from Stryker, Ohio, will serve
as the chairman of the VAA restora
tion shop at EAA AirVenture, and
he is actively seeking qualified vol
unteers to come and assist us with
this exciting project. For those of
you who may label yourselves as
not-so-qualified volunteers, you,
too, are welcome to stop by and
assist us (with some supervision).
And those of you who may want to
just observe and learn a little about
a Monocoupe restoration are also
welcome to visit the project.
Let's all pull in the same direc
tion for the good of aviation . Re
member, we ar e better together.
Join us and have it all.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE

EAA Objects to
FAA Language That Puts
Historic Aircraft at Risk

International
Young Eagles Day
Is June 11

EAA, with its Vintage Aircraft

Association and Warbirds of Amer
ica divisions, objected strongly to
a proposed FAA rule change that
would jeopardize future historic
aircraft restorations. The proposal's
preamble prohibits a historic air
craft that had been destroyed-as
indicated by National Transporta
tion Safety Board reports-from
being rebuilt and receiving a type
certificate to operate as a standard
category aircraft.
In its written comments to the
FAA, EAA, VAA, and Warbirds said
there is no evidence of a safety
concern with aircraft restored after
substantial damage or being "to
taled" by an insurance company.
The NTSB has no definition for "de
stroyed" as used in its reports and
is considering dropping the term
from aviation accident reports.
"There are many beautiful air
craft restorations from a few re
maining aircraft parts or what are
commonly known as basket cases,"
said Earl Lawrence, EAA's vice
president of industry and regula
tory affairs. "FAA is using language
in the preamble to create policies
that should be handled through a
regular rule-making process, which
includes full economic and safety
effects. The agency, in this case, is
circumventing its own process."
Contrary to some reports, the
proposed rule would not ground
or halt the restoration of such air
craft, but it would subject them
to more restrictive categories such
as experimental/exhibition. EAA
does not object to the specific
changes within the proposed rule
itself, just its preamble. The pro
posal does not affect restorations
of aircraft that have never been
classified as "destroyed or totaled"
and removed from the FAA regis
tration database.

EAA Chapters worldwide will

hold flight rallies on June 11 in
honor of the 2005 International
Young Eagles Day (IYED), where
EAAers fly as many as 10,000 to
20,000 youngsters in one day!
Let us know how your rally goes.
Send an e-mail to the Young Ea
gles office at youngeagies@eaa.org.

JUNE 2005

Register Your Type Club

Gathering Online
Is your type club having a dinner
and/or meeting this year during EAA
AirVenture Oshkosh? Send the details
to EAA and we'll share the informa
tion with the membership on the EAA
website, www.airventure.org, and later,
for folks on convention grounds, in the
daily AirVenture Today. Visit https:!/
secure.eaa.org/airventure/type_ciubs.htmi,
complete the online form, and that's it!

EAA Ford Tri-Motor on Tour

EAA's 1929 Ford Tri-Motor takes to the skies in June and July for a
mini-tour to several cities, starting in Pontiac, Michigan, on June 11
and concluding at Traverse City, Michigan, on July 5. "We welcome
everybody to experience true living history by flying in the world's first
mass-produced airliner or seeing it when we land in their area," said
EAA AirVenture Museum Director Adam Smith.
Nicknamed the Tin Goose because of its corrugated metal skin, EAA
meticulously restored the airplane in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Since then it has been based at Pioneer Airport, EAA's living history
aerodrome that re-creates aviation in the 1920s and 1930s. Last year
the airplane received a new paint job from Gulfstream and was com
pletely refurbished to appear as it did when it first flew more than 75
years ago.
Flights are available for $40 per person when booked in advance or
$50 per person the day of the flights. A secure flight-reservation system
and complete information are available through EAA's Tri-Motor tour
website: www.flytheford.org.

The Tour Schedule

June 11-14: Pontiac, Michigan, Oakland County IntI. Airport (PTK)
June 16-19: Port Clinton, Ohio, Carl R. Keller Field Airport (PCW)
June 21-23: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County Airport (AGC)
June 25-29: Ft. Wayne, Indiana, Smith Field Airport (SMD)
July 1-5: Traverse City, Michigan, Cherry Capital Airport (TVC)

Angel Flight East Aircraft

and Car Show
Angel Flight East is the non
profit organization whose mission
is to facilitate free air transporta
tion to financially and medically
disadvantaged patients so they can
get desperately needed treatments
and surgeries. Angel Flight East ac
complishes this tremendous task
through the generosity of many
volunteer pilots who donate their
aircraft, time, and fuel.
Ang.el Flight East's 16th Annual
Vintage Aircraft and Classic Car
show will take place September 10,
2005, at Wings Field in Blue Bell,
Pennsylvania. All net proceeds go
to benefit Angel Flight East.
If you would be interested in fly
ing in and displaying your aircraft,
please call Bonni Bellet Schwartz
at 800/383-9464, ext. 4, or e-mail
bschwartz@angelf/ighteast.org.

VAA Happenings at
EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2005
VAA Picnic

Our annual VAA picnic will be

held on Wednesday, July 27, at
the Nature Center. Trams will de
part the Barn around 5:00 p.m. The
home-cooked beef and ham dinner
will start being served at 5:30 p.m.
Tickets for the event will be avail
able, as usual, at the VAA Red Barn
headquarters. If your group or type
club is interested in purchasing a
block of tickets, please contact Jean
nie Hill as soon as possible. If noti
fied, we will gladly reserve an area
for your group at the picnic. These
tickets sell out, so please let us know
your intentions as early as possible.

EAA AirVenture 2005 NOTAM

Now Available Via Online and
Print Formats
The Federal Aviation Adminis
tration (FAA) has releasea the EAA
AirVenture Oshkosh 2005 Notice
to Airmen (NOTAM), featuring
arrival and departure procedures
for the Experimental Aircraft As
sociation's 53rd annual fly-in, The
World's Greatest Aviation Celebra
tion, July 25-31 at Wittman Re
gional Airport in Oshkosh.
The NOTAM, which is in ef
fect July 23-August I, outlines
procedures for the many types
of aircraft that fly to Oshkosh for
the event, as well as aircraft that
land at nearby airports. It was de
signed by EAA and approved by
the FAA to assist pilots in prepa
rations for their EAA AirVenture
flights. There are some minor
but noteworthy changes for en
hanced safety and convenience
compared to the 2004 version.
Those changes include improved
approach paths to Wittman Re
gional Airport; landing areas on
Runway 18R/36L; and the addi
tion of the approach control fre
quency for Madison, Wisconsin.
A higher-than-normal influx
of VFR arrivals are expected at
Oshkosh on Saturday and Sunday,
July 23-24, because of EAA Air
Venture's new Monday-through-

Shawano Fly-Out
The annual fly-out to Shawano
will take place on Saturday, July
30. The sign-up sheet will be at the
desk in the Red Barn. The briefing
will take place Saturday at 7:00 a.m.
on the porch of the Barn. Last year
we had great weather and record at
tendance, and everyone had a great
time. The city of Shawano really
goes out of its way to make us feel
welcome. We hope you can join us.
Other Great Stuff
In the special events depart
ment, there will be another "party
on the porch" celebrating the par
ticipation of several tri-motors at
tending the convention. The exact

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""" .........,.wlAP:....-.... .......--." .......... - - .

Sunday schedule beginning this

year. Besides following the pub
lished arrival and departure pro
cedures in the EAA AirVenture
NOTAM, pilots should maintain
high vigilance in watching for
other aircraft.
The online Adobe Acrobat
(PDF) version of the NOTAM is
available in the Plan for It/Pilot
Information area of the EAA Air
Venture website (www.airventure.
org). In addition, printable arrival
and departure signs for aircraft are
available through the Pilot Infor
mation area of the website.
A 32-page printed NOTAM is
available by calling EAA Member
ship Services at 800-564-6322 or
through anyone of 15 selected
Automated Flight Service Stations
(AFSS) throughout the country.
A printed version may also be re
quested through the EAA AirVen
ture website.
date is to be announced.
While you're at the Barn, don't
forget to check out our Pioneer
Video corner where we'll have
our original Pioneer Videos play
ing throughout the week. Through
these videos, we can revisit the avi
ation greats who are no longer able
to be with us.
Pilots attending with their air
craft can pick up complimentary
mugs and plaques at the Red Barn.
Coffee mugs are available to all
EAA pilots, but you must also be
a member of VAA to receive a per
sonalized commemorative plaque.
We will once again offer the Red
Carpet van service to our memVINTAGE AIRPLANE

CALL FOR

VAA

HALL OF FAME NOMINATIONS

Nominate your favorite aviator for the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association
Hall of Fame. A huge 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 yOUI""Lircte of aviation friends, that mechanic, that
photographer, that pilot who has shared innumerable tips with you and
with many others. They could be the next VAA Hall of Fame inductees-but
only if they are nominated.
The person you nominate can be a citizen of any country and may be
living or deceased, and his or her involvement in vintage aviation must have
occurred between 1950 and the present day. His or her contribution could
be in the areas of flying; design; mechanical or aerodynamic developments;
administration; writing; some other vital, 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, and preference is given
to those whose actions have contributed to the VAA in some way, perhaps
as a volunteer; 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.

Write those contributions in the various categories of the form.
Write a simple letter highlighting these attributes and contributions. Make
copies of newspaper or magazine articles that may substantiate your view.
If you can, have another person complete a form or write a letter about this
person, confirming why the person is a good candidate for induction.
Mail the form to:

VAA Hall of Fame

H.G. Frautschy

PO Box 3086

Oshkosh WI 54903-3086

REMEMBER, YOUR "CONTEMPORARY" MAY B E A CANDID A T E

NOMINATE SOMEONE TODAY!

Call the VAA office for a form (920-426-6110), find it at www.vintageaircraft.

org, or on your own sheet of paper, simply include the following information:
Date submitted.
Name of person nominated.
Address and phone 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.
E-mail address of nominee.
.Time span (dates) of the nominee's contributions to aviation. (Must be

between 1950 to present day.)

VAA and EAA number, if known.

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/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.
Name of person submitting petition.
Submitter's address and phone number, plus e-mail address.
Include any supporting material with your petition.
4

JUNE 2005

bers who need assistance getting

around the field. This service is
intended to aid those who have
trouble walking or who need to
carry heavy objects, such as lug
gage, camping gear, or materials,
to the forums or other outlying
areas. This service is available only
on the Wittman airport grounds.
To arrange transportation, stop
at the desk at the Red Barn or call
the Red Barn headquarters at 920
230-7796. If you don't require van
service, we can also connect you
to a golf cart transportation ser
vice available on the field. To add
to your transportation options,
trams will be departing daily from
the north side of the Red Barn.
With all of these avenues avail
able, getting around the field will
be easier than ever.
It's a good idea to check in
at the Red Barn on a regular ba
sis. Message/information boards
change daily, and frequent an
nouncements are made remind
ing everyone of up-and-coming
events. While you're there, stop in
for a cup of lemonade and some
fresh, hot popcorn. Don't forget,
the VAA Red Barn headquarters is
also your hospitality center. We al
ways enjoy it when folks just stop
by to say hello and "set a spell."
It's a great place to catch up with
all your Vintage friends. We look
forward to seeing you soon.
Jeannie Hill
E-mail: dinghao@owc.net

VAA Elections/Annual Meeting

In the center spread of this is
sue you'll find candidate biogra
phies and a ballot for this year's
VAA elections, which will be rati
fied at the annual business meet
ing held during EAA AirVenture
Oshkosh 2005. Notice is hereby
given that an annual business
meeting of the members of the
EAA Vintage Aircraft Association
will be held on Sunday, July 31,
2005, at 9:30 a.m. CDT in the
tent next to the VAA Red Barn
headquarters during the 53rd

annual convention of the Ex

perimental Aircraft Association
Inc., Wittman Regional Airport,
Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Notice is
hereby further given that the an
nual election of officers and direc
tors of the EAA Vintage Aircraft
Association will be conducted by
ballot distributed to the mem
bers along with this June issue of
Vintage Airplane. Said ballot must
be returned properly marked to
the Ballot Tally Committee, Vin
tage Aircraft Association, P.O. Box
3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086,
and received no later than July
22, 2005. The Nominating Com
mittee submits the following list
of candidates: for vice-president,
George Daubner; for Treasurer,
Charles W. Harris; for directors
(six total), David Bennett, John
S. "Jack" Copeland, Philip Coul
son, Dale A. Gustafson, Eugene E.
Morris, Wes Schmid.

Protect OUf Planes Marks Fifth Anniversary

Aircraft counted in
the thousands and peo
ple in the hundreds of
thousands come from
around the world each
year for EAA AirVenture
Oshkosh. To protectthe
airplanes-and specta
tors-EAA formed a
volunteer army, Pro
tect Our Planes (POP),
prior to EAA AirVenture
2000. Its members
monitor flightline ac
tivities to make sure
visitors abide by the
time-tested Oshkosh rules: no smoking, except in designated areas, and no
food or drink on the flightl ine.
POP is always looking for good volunteers, who must be at least 14 (ages 1417
need a parent/guardian with them) and enthusiastic. No experience is necessary
all you need is a smile-and there's a place for people of all fitness levels. It's a
great way for families and/or groups to enjoy EAA AirVenture "from the inside.
If you're interested in volunteering, e-mail ProtectOurPlanes@yahoo.com or visit
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProtectOurPlanes.

a'vil

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VINTAGE AIRPLANE

REMINISCING WITH BIG NICK

ox-s

ANNUAL REUNION
Nick Rezich
Photos by Jessie Woods and Bob Collins

The South has risen!! BELIEVE endar watch moved up one day! My
YOU -ME, it has! $9.20 for four wife turned to me and asked, "Are
drinks...$21.00 for a fish plate and we taking off?"-to which I replied,
. a cold steak. I just returned from "No, the best is yet to come." Sure
the colorful and historical city of enough, we turned onto the run
Charleston, South Carolina. I have way, running full bore with about a
always been a fancie:t: of the South, 4G side load. We rotate and before
but I believe the Charlestonians are the gear doors close, he racks this
still mad at us damn Yankees. (That's hog into a 45-degree bank and we
damyankee' in the South, Nick . . .one are on our way. My wife turned to
word. I was 14 before I was told it me again and asks, "Has he turned
was two words up Nawth!-Jack Cox, the smoke on?" About the same
Editor) Every time I tried crossing a time, I was reaching for a phantom
street with the green light, at least microphone to announce this act!
two of them would try to get me.
As they vectored us to the airway,
I swear they can smell a Yankee a each turn became more vigorous
traffic light ahead!! A blind man is than the preceeding one. When we
safer in downtown Chicago!
finally leveled off and the hostess
It all started when I boarded an started hustling drinks, I ordered the
Eastern Airlines DC-9 at O'Hare on first martini of my life and my wife
October 9. I knew I had been "had" had a double, her first. The next hour
as soon as we started to taxi. Now, 'I and fifteen minutes were routine
wouldn't say we were taxiing fast.. and dull...with only an occasional
.but when we turned onto the taxi 30-degree bank using only about a
way leaving the gate area, my cal- 180-degree-per-second roll rate. . .
Reprinted from Vintage Airplane November
/I

JUNE 2005

Now it was time for Act II-and

sure enough, we had a whole new
bag of tricks in store for us. It started
with going from cruise power to
idle with the articulate arm of King
Kong, followed by a push over to
zero G. Again, I instinctively reached
for the air show mike, for I knew he
is setting up for an outside snap as
we roll into a 60-degree bank. About
this time the number two boy de
cides to bring the cabin down to
catch up with the airplane, but over
shoots and has us on the ground as
we are going through 25,000 feet. By
now all the sinus sufferers are ready
for interment.
A few more downhill point rolls
and we wind up on a 10,OOO-foot
base leg. Now King Kong wants to
play Bob Hoover. ..out go the high
lift devices, full rear flap, and the
gear. He pushes over to about 60
degrees and proceeds to clean out
all the ashtrays.
1974

Jessie Woods, left, Dale De Tour, and Evelyn Wal

dren at Evergreen Airport. The piece of cowling Max Robertson's Travel Air 4000, Miss Jessie, painted up just like one

contains the old Flying Aces calling card.

of the original Flying Aces' show planes. (Photo by Jack Cox)

M .....'lud Occasion"-Kneeling, left to right, Bob

Collins, Bill WaITeD, and Max Robertson. Standing, left to.......~=::1
right, Dale De Tour, AI Kroft, Gary Kroft, Paul Lawrence,
Jessie Woods, and CalTOil Pope.

When we roll out on final, he

blows the whole Bob Hoover bit
we are about two miles out and he
has us down in the toolies with the
speed meter reading slow. About this
time, someone up front remembers
Lesson Number 8 and the P&Ws
spool up to about 105 percent. Jo
Anne turns to me and says, "Is this a
Whisper Jet?/I For the next two miles
we all get to enjoy the same com
forts a bronco buster thrives on.
The impact and rollout magni ity of some much-needed spirits.
fied my thoughts . . .that the ma I walked down the block, and as
chine is master of the man... !!
I stepped off the curb to cross the
When we turned off at the end, I street, here comes one of those
noticed that King Kong was a very Charlestonians aiming at me full
thoughtful and considerate pilot. bore. Out of nowhere a very strong
He applied the same 4G load to the . hand pushed me to safety. I swear
opposite gear from the one he lim on an old Southern Bible, the driver
bered up on take-off ... and set my of that car was wearing an Eastern
watch back on the correct date.
Airlines uniform!!
After checking into the hotel, I
The purpose of my trip to Charles
decided to check out the availabil- ton was to attend the 19th Annual

Jessie closed her

eyes for a

moment and

thought, "Is it

really March 1974

. . .or is it

March 1929?"

Reunion of the OX-S Aviation Pio

neers. The highlight of the reunion
was the announcement of the Hall
of Fame inductees who will be en
shrined in May at Hammondsport,
New York. I was proud and very
happy to learn that Gordon Israel
of Howard fame was named as a re
cipient of this unique honor.
I had a long chat with another
Hall of Fame Inductee, Mr. Clayton
C. Scott, the retired Boeing chief
test pilot. Mr. Scott is the owner of
Jobmaster Inc., the company that
produces Howard DGA seaplanes.
He also owns all the STCs and the
Approved Type Certificate for How
ard aircraft: He informed me that
he has many parts for the DGA-1S.
He also told me that he wants to
spend more time fishing and hunt
ing and that the whole Howard Air
craft business is for sale. He would
rather sell it to a Howard enthusiast
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

Air 4000s. Jessie was the wing

walker, the parachute jumper, and
pilot of one of the ships.
During our chat she told me
about the "New Flying Aces" up
in the Northwest. They are a real
bunch of gung-ho antiquers who
have the market cornered on
Travel Airs, Wacos, Stearmans,
and many other golden oldies.
They are part of the Northwest
Antique Airplane Club.
Max Robertson, Bob Collins,
and Bill Warren of Medford, Or
Paul Lawrence and his 12W.
egon, along with Carroll
Pope of Grants Pass, Or
egon, restored three Travel
Air 4000s and pa.inted
them in the original paint
scheme of the Flying Aces
complete with the insignia
of the hand of aces on the
fuselage and the single ace,
each of a different suit, on
the vertical fins. The air
planes are all original except
for the engines-the Wright
Paul Lawrence giving Jessie Woods some much J-Ss have been replaced with
needed help donning the last layer of clothing 220 Continentals.
prior to take-off from Cottage Grove to Medford.
This past March Jessie
That's Paul's Curtiss-Wright Travel Air 12W in Woods joined the New Fly
the background.
ing Aces and took a trip
into the past. Saturday
morning, March 23, 1974,
Jessie donned a flying suit
and climbed aboard Paul
Lawrence's red and white
Curtiss-Wright Travel Air
12-W, joined by Dale De
Tour in his red ASO Waco
an~ Al Kroft in his PT-13,
and took off from the Ever
green Airport at Vancouver,
Jessie Woods and Carroll Pope enjoying the sun Washington, and painted
their nose south for a cold
at the Cottage Grove gas stop.
24S-mile flight to Medford.
than a commercial group. Here is Jessie's first glimpse of the New Fly
your chance, you Howard Lovers. ing Aces came when they landed at
(200S-The Howard DGA type cer Cottage Grove, Oregon, for some
tificates are now owned by the Howard gas and some much needed coffee.
club.-HGF)
As they taxied to the ramp, Jes
The New Flying Aces
sie spotted those familiar elephant
I also had a long visit with Mrs. Jes ears on the blue and white 4000
sie Woods, the lady I mentioned in the belonging to Carroll Pope. Next
May issue. Jessie and her late husband in sight was Miss Jessie, the blue
operated the "Flying Aces" air show and white 4000 owned and flown
from 1929 to 1939 using two Travel by Max Robertson, their host for
\

JUNE 2005

the weekend ... and the ramrod

behind the revitalization of the
Flying Aces.
The sight of the two Travel Airs
brought a tear to the eyes ofjessie
as she put it, "I kept swallOWing,
but the lump in my throat stayed."
After much back-slapping, hug
ging, and handshaking, they were
off for Medford, where the third
and final Travel Air of the Flying
Aces would join the flight. The trip
over the snow-covered Calapooya
Mountains was cold and slow, but
rewarding. As the Medford airport
came into view, so did the bright
red and white Travel Air of Bob
Collins and Bill Warren. Jessie was
freezing, but seeing those three
Travel Airs soon warmed the blood
and heart. The evening was spent
at Max and Michelle Robertson's
place talking about Travel Airs and
the Flying Aces.
Sunday morning dawned bright
and clear, and soon Jessie would be
treated to one of the greatest mo
ments of her life. After a short trip
to the airport in Max's meticulously
restored Model A truck, the three
220 Continentals barked to life,
and as the Flying Aces taxied out
in formation, Jessie closed her eyes
for a moment and thought, "Is it
really March 1974 ... or is it March
1929?" The New Flying Aces treated
J essie and her friends to a special
show reminiscent of 1929.
When it was over and time for
home, Jessie expressed her feelings
with the following words: "Here at
last my dream had come true! This
flight had been made that I might
see three Travel Airs together once
again and repainted in the same
configuration as our Flying Aces
Air Circus of the late '20s and '30s.
I, too, like Alice, walked through a
looking glass into the past and ex
perienced the delights of 'The Med
ford Occasion. III
I salute you, Max Robertson,
Bob Collins, Bill Warren, Carroll
Pope, and the Northwest Antique
Airplane Club. May your galaxy
shine forever. Keep the Travel Air
..."..
flying!-Big Nick

DOUG STEWART

Decisions, Decisions!

Well, summer is here, and with

the longer days come longer flights.
For many of us it is the time of year
when our flights extend well out
beyond the pattern. They even ex
tend beyond the proverbial "ham
burger" flight that now seems to
cost a heck of a lot more than the
$100 it once did . In fact for some of
us the flights we are taking might
very well extend over several days
and several thousand miles. Why, it
might even be that annual pilgrim
age to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh
to park our pride and joy within
shouting distance of the Red Barn.
(Of course if the "Red Barons" are
flying their formation air show act,
you wouldn't hear me shout even
if you parked on the porch of the
Red Barn!)
If the flight were indeed a mul
tiday cross-country flight, the deci
sion to make that flight might very
well have been made last winter
when the days were short and the
temperatures low. Or perhaps the
decision was a more spontaneous
one, made perhaps only a few short
hours before the flight.
Regardless of when the decision to
make the flight was originally made,
the process of decision-making does
not end there. Unfortunately when
looking at the accident records, it
would appear that for some pilots
once the decision to go has been
made, there is nothing stopping
them, until that unfortunate final
impact. We have to be aware that

the decision process to not only be

gin, but also to continue the flight,
is an ongoing process that does not
end until we have landed at our fi
nal destination, taxied to our tie
down, and put the ropes on.

We have to be
aware that the
decision process
to not only begin,
but also to
continue the flight,
is an ongoing
process that does
not end until we
have landed ...
Let's take a look at that process .
We have a couple of acronyms to
help us out. The first one is the
PAVE checklist. It stands for Pilot,
Aircraft, enVironment, and Exter
nal pressures . From the moment
the thought of making the flight
first enters our mind, until the suc
cessful conclusion of that flight,
it is a checklist that we have to be
constantly reviewing.
The first element is the Pilot.
Certainly in advance of the flight
we have to consider if we are going
to be current for the flight. Will our

flight review still be current? Will

our medical be current? (I guess the
Sport Pilots in the readership can
ignore that one .) Going beyond
the regulatory currency, we need to
consider if we are really current for
the conditions that we might expe
rience on the flight.
Are you familiar with the ter
rain and airspace that you will en
counter on your flight? If you are
instrument rated, are you really
ready to fly an approach to your
personal minim ums? Even though
you might have flown your six-in
six, it might have been five and a
half months since you last flew an
approach . And was that approach
flown in IMC, or with a hood on
and a safety pilot in the right seat?
Although you might have flown
three takeoffs and landings in the
previous 90 days, were they in
gusty crosswind conditions? Re
member, if you are flying a trip of
more than 400 miles, the likeli
hood of encountering some kind of
weather different from your depar
ture weather is likely.
On the day of the flight (and
continuing throughout the entire
flight) we also have to consider our
physical condition. I hope you run
the I'M SAFE checklist on yourself.
If you recall, that stands for: Illness,
Medication, Stress, Alcohol, Fatigue
(also Food), and Emotion. During
the flight would you have the sense
and diSCipline to divert to a precau
continued on page 31
V I NTAG E AIR PL AN E

E.E. " BUC K" HILBERT

An information exchange column with input from readers

Winter Doldrums
One thing I like about winter,
the flie s all dies! That's the only
real nice thing about winter. Quite
frankly, the thought of getting the
machine out of the hangar and go
ing through the cold-weather start
ing procedures is more than enough
to turn me off. Now Vintage Airplane
Associate Editor, Norm Petersen, on
the other hand, actually enjoys the
challenge. He suits up in the appro
priate gear, goes through all the mo
tions and ski-flies around terrorizing
the neighbors and having fun (?).
Not for me! I more or less hibernate
and that's the way it is.
More and more phone calls keep
coming in, but some letters, too.
Got some comment on pullin' the
prop through before starting from
one of our seaplane pilots over in
Michigan. He actually agreed with
me. Must be from old school. I won
der what he does in the wintertime?

Gopher broke
What brought all this on was
that a couple mornings ago, with
the frost on the pumpkins, I went
out to fly. I dragged the old 182 out
of the hangar after I'd preflighted it
(I'm no fool! I preflighted it inside
the hangar even before I opened
the door, out of the wind and cold,
where [ could do it in a leisurely
manner.), cranked it up (yes, I did
pull it through in the hangar), and
almost as soon as it began to run,
pulled on the cabin heat and the
defroster. Where, oh, where is that
WARM air? What the heck is that

funny smell? Are those corn leaves

coming out of the defroster? Darned
if it ain't. What in the heck is goin'
on? I shut down and investigated.
Back in the hangar, of course.
Normally, when weather permits
and I have something going in the
hangar, the 182 sits on the tiedown
line outside, its tail pointed toward
the adjacent cornfield. We had been
working on the Mooney, the Por
terfield 35-70, and a couple of the
Varga fuel tanks, so the Cessna spent
quite a bit of time out there this past
month or so. Well, I guess the go
phers must have thought they had
a real good home, ready made, snug
and warm, 'cause they had literally
stuffed the cabin heat air duct with
corn leaves. They were all nice and
dry and crumbly and a real com
bustible mess. When I pulled on the
cabin heat, they were forced into the
system and some of the looser de
bris came right on through and into
the defroster. This is what I noticed
when [ pulled the cabin heat knob.
This was the first time I'd asked for
cabin heat this season. How long
the debris was in that duct is any
body's guess, but we now had some
work to do-purge the duct, the
heater, and the distribution system
throughout the cabin. That was the
biggest chore-just making sure all
was clean and in order.
The point ['m trying to make is
that when I uncowled the engine and
went after the debris, I got to thinkin'
about the importance of checking
the heat exchanger and the exhaust
stacks the muffs get their heat from.

What if I hadn't had enough debris

come through that I'd noticed it?
Would it have ignited? Was the in
tegrity of the system compromised?
Was carbon monoxide a consider
ation, as well as a fire threat?
Regardless as to how the little ras
cals (nice word for varmints) had got
ten in there, and I feel it was almost
an impossibility, they created a prob
lem that could exist in YOUR airplane
as well as mine. I think with all the
winter flyin' advice, the cabin heater
should be on the list of things to
check not only for proper operation,
but also bearing in mind the potential
threat of carbon monoxide poisoning
and the potential fire hazard.
We've all heard the horror stories
and have had examples thrown at
us. This incident came pretty close
to home. Heck! It was a home! I'm
adding a check of the heating sys
tem, including a complete disassem
bly of the muffs, and a stack integrity
check to my fall duties even though
the annual was done in August.

Oily bird
One other thing. Brian Van Wag
nen was here last week, and I'm goin'
around the 182 with a can of Aero
Lube spray and lubing the hinges, etc.
I got a real nice informative lecture.
The theory is that the Aero Lube is a
grease and will actually clog up the
pores of oil-light bearings. It would
be better if light oil were used rather
than the grease base. It will penetrate
the bearing surfaces much better and
allow the lubricant to flo~
l

Reprinted from Vintage Airplane January 1990

10

JUNE 2005

~ti.~

At the end of Part II, Al Menasco had just

finished serving as a civilian aeronautical en
gineer for the U.S. Army Signal Corps and had
moved back to Los Angeles, where he became
a machinist. His pal, Art Smith, stayed on
in the Air Corps, having been one of the first
Army Air Mail pilots. Here's the conclusion to
Al Menasco, Aviation Pioneer.

Al Menasco
Part III
CHET WELLMAN
PHOTOS COURTESY OF

AL

MENASCO

EXCEPT AS NOTED

"One of my early pals in racing,

Karl Weber, invented a glass grind
ing machine, and I joined his com
pany, the Weber Showcase Co. The
automobile business began build
ing the closed cars, and we could
hardly build the glass machines fast
enough for Detroit, and we were in
the chips again.
"Art Smith was stili flying the
mail. He had scattered most of the
money from Japan around Texas in
oil well drilling. He had also bought
250 war surplus French Salmson
engines, which our government
had received from France after
the war-quite possibly the most
we ever received from France of a
reparations nature. The engine was
known as the Liberty of France-a
very advanced engine for its time,
Reprinted from Vintage Airplane
May 1985
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

11

a nine-cylinder radial water-cooled

type of 230 hp.
"He planned to start an aircraft
factory while flying the mail; and
build a skywriting airplane. He was
still inventing things and was go
ing to corner the skywriting busi
ness. He had improved the war sur
plus de Havilland mail ships with
several of his devices. It was still the
U.S. Air Mail Service-not yet a pri
vate carrier.
"The government asked for bids
to replace old DHs. The Curtiss
and Douglas companies responded
with two prototypes for evaluation.
Douglas submitted an adaptation
of its round-the-world cruiser, car
rying 1,000 pounds of mail in a
front cockpit, with the pilot in the
rear open cockpit. Curtiss submit
ted a new model called the Carrier
Pigeon, of basically the same type
both were biplanes. But the Carrier
Pigeon was an ungainly looking
ship by comparison and had a very
high cowling forward that lessened
forward visibility.
"Douglas appeared to be favored;
all the pilots tested both at Cleve
land. Art was a friend of Curtiss and
wanted to see the Pigeon get a fair
trial. He said that he did not want
to just fly it around the field, but
take it on his regular night run to
Chicago under actual weather con
ditions. He was at that time very in
terested in bad-weather flying and
developing aids during his trips.
"He took the Carrier Pigeon on
his run to Chicago that day and
12

JUNE 2005

encountered bad weather for the

return trip. I was in New York and
had planned to meet him in Wash
ington the following day to visit the
patent office. Ten inches of snow
fell on New York that night, and Art
was out in the Carrier Pigeon.
"He bored through safely to
Bryan, Ohio, and decided to land at
the emergency field there to replen
ish his fuel in case of necessary cir
cling over Cleveland later. He broke
through at Bryan okay, but in cir
cling a farm to get his bearings he
struck a lone tree that was about 40
feet above all else, and that is where
he finished .
"I went down to Fort Wayne to
his funeral. They erected a statue
on the golf course there where he
taught himself to fly. It is a beauti
ful statue-a shaft of granite 40 feet
high, with an 8-foot symbolic figure
of a man with wings outstretched
in bronze on top.
"In helping his mother and fa
ther to settle his estate we found
that his principal asset was the 250
Salmsons in a warehouse at Dayton.
Civil aviation was beginning to stir,
so I tried to peddle these engines to
some of the emerging companies,
but none of them seemed to have
much money.
"I finally shipped the engines
to California and started to con
vert them to 1\merican standards
to make enough to take care of
Mrs. Smith and Art's father, who
was failing rapidly. That was a
mistake. We increased the horse

power to 260 by making a few im

provements, but the engine started
throwing parts such as valves,
springs, and other pieces.
"Lindbergh flew the ocean while
we were doing this, and all hell
broke loose . Everyone wanted to
get into the aircraft business. They
would buy engines; they'd buy any
thing remotely connected to th e
aircraft business. You could sell
stock in any company that even
suggested an affiliation. For exam
ple, there was a small railroad in
Florida called Seaboard Airlines. To
the amazement of stockholders and
management, their stock zoomed
to astronomical figures overnight.
No one stopped to question that it
was a railroad.
"I had unlimited opportunities
to sell the engines, except about
that time the government es
tablished an Aeronautics Bureau
through the Department of Com
merce to create some regulations
for the exploding industry.
"It became necessary to license
aircraft properly, also to set speci
fications for safety, among which
were tests to prove airworthiness.
Engines were required to pass cer
tain tests to obtain an airworthi
ness certificate.
"The whole concept was proper
and well done. But I was stuck with
the Salmsons unless I could get
them certified. To do this we had
to operate an engine at full throttle
for 50 hours at the Bureau of Stan
dards in Washington, D.C.-within
a range of temperatures and fu el
consumption figures and other
safety factors.
"We made five trips, and in the
last attempt we ran 49 hours and
27 minutes before the last piece of
the French engine blew, which was
the crankcase, as we had replaced
about everything else by that time.
"By this time we had assembled a
good crew and had a good shop, so
I said, 'I'm back in the engine busi
ness, but I am going to build my
own engines.'
That was the start of the Me

nasco Manufacturing Co.

"We called it Menasco Motors.
Jack Northrop, also a young man at
that time, but already with impres
sive credits, was responsible for my
decision to build an inverted type
engine. He convinced me that all
previous types were not built for
the utmost aerodynamic effiCiency,
but to obtain the best power-weight
ratio . The Wright Whirlwind J-5
that Lindbergh had used was su
preme; they could sell more than
they could build, a nine-cylinder
radial. Of the 140 some types by as
many companies then applying for
certification, 90 percent were radi
als, of large frontal area.
"Jack said, 'The inverted en
gine of small frontal area, with the
crankshaft above, gives a higher
center of thrust, plus more propel
ler clearance, which in turn allows
for a shorter landing gear-a better
aerodynamic situation all around.'
"Other advantages of stream
lining, lower center of gravity, ac
cessibility were apparent. Jack was
anxious to build a small prototype
flying wing, and this type of engine
fit in his plans. The design also in
cluded a retractable landing gear
and other innovations.
"We had the most complete
machine shop within the aviation
fraternity then. Douglas, Lock
heed, Ryan, and others were pri
marily airplane builders, lacking
much in the way of metal-work
ing machine tools.
"As a result, we were able to ex
ecute the more difficult machined
parts for them. So we built the
first retractable landing gear for
Northrop, of Jack's design. It was
what we termed a 'piece of jewelry'
then . I don't think you even have
the tools in the plant today to do
the job-we practically had to hand
tool the whole thing out.
"That was the first retractable
landing gear built in the industry
to my knowledge. It worked fine in
tests at Burbank, but in crosswind
testing at Muroc Dry Lake (now Ed
wards Air Force Base) it was trouble-

Rudy Kling and his Menasco-powered Folkerts SK-3 racing aircraft in which
he won the Greve and Thompson trophies in 1937.

some. Jack wanted to get on with the

testing of the airplane itself, so we
finished with a fixed gear to prove
several of the other new features of
the first flying wing. Eddie Bellande
did the flying-who has just retired
as chairman of the board of the Gar
rett Corp., incidentally.
"That was at least a partial suc
cess for the first retractable gear
designed by Northrop and built by
Menasco. So at long last, we come
back here to where you are building
landing gear.
"I must tell you one more land
ing gear story, then button this up.
We had 'grown' into air racing. We
were quite successful; in fact, that's
being too modest. During that era,
we won four times as many races
as all other engine companies com
bined. But we never built a racing
engine. These were stock-approved
type engines. I must digress to ex
plain this. After five failures with
the French engine, I made up my
mind that when I built my own en
gine and put my name on it that
there would be no failures at the
Bureau of Standards SO-hour tests.
"No engine was submitted by us
for testing thereafter that could not
run 100 hours at 125 percent full
throttle. I did not even bother to
attend the tests in Washington. We
got seven approved type certificates
in a row-no other manufacturer
had ever submitted to seven succes
sive tests successfully.
"We did it by diligence and de
termination to give the customer
more than he asked for. Through
out the Burbank plant today I saw a

lot of your work, and it was beauti

ful. I am really proud to have my
name on the door again.
"I promised one more anecdote
about the second landing gear we
were involved in. A group of San
Francisco fliers and sportsmen de
cided to build an airplane to com
pete in the National Air Races at
Cleveland. They backed a young
designer by the name of Keith
Rider who produced an outstand
ing airplane-all metal, cantilever
low wing-using our first super
charged engine and a retractable
landing gear.
"We had appeared for the first
time at a National Air Race scene
in Chicago in 1930. Now it was
1931 , and the San Francisco peo
ple became so enthused when they
saw their entry develop that they
decided to build two of them. We
arrived at Cleveland and created
quite an impression. They were
beautiful to see; they looked like
the modern fighter of today. The
slender nose of the in-line en
gine, the short unbraced low wing
in gleaming aluminum was quite
something. We were in a small cu
bic inch class. Our largest engine
was only 544 cubic inches, and we
had no aspirations to win the big
Thompson Trophy Race, which was
unlimited with engines as high as
1,800 inches. But we did bite off
the 1,000-inch class. We thought
we could do well in that.
"There were 50,000 people in
the grandstand as the race started.
Planes were lined up abreast in
continued on page 25
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

13

Antique Awards (Before B/31/45)

Grand Champion
NC17662
Spartan Executive Model 7W (1940)
Ronald E. Tarrson
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Reserve Grand Champion
NC6871
Stinson Detroiter Junior (1928)
RobertJ. Hedgecock
Barnesville, Georgia
Custom Champion
NC31178
Piper J-3 Cub Sport (1940)
Buz Rich
Williamsburg, Virginia
Outstanding Custom
E-BTUX
Bucker Jungmeister BJ 133c (1940)
Anthony Smith
Ocala, Florida
Outstanding WWII Era
N8054
de Havilland Tiger Moth DH82A
(1941)
Richard W. Epton
Brooks, Georgia

14

JUNE 2005

Grand Champion
None Awarded
Custom Champion
N5834H
PA-16 (1949)
Gilbert and Barbara Pierce
German Town, Tennessee
Best Custom Classic (Over 165 hpj
N170JE
C-170B (1953)
John Barrett
St. Charles, Illinois
Best Custom Classic (100 -165 hpj
N7491K
PA-20 (1950)
Scott T. Schaefer
Burnsville, Minnesota
Best Custom Classic (0-100 hpj
N1947B
Luscombe 8F (1947)
Jerry Cox and Scott Rose
Mattoon, Illinois

Outstanding Classic
N721CM
Navion (1946)
James and Catherine Manint
Monticello, Illinois

Best Restored
N7596B
Champion 7EC (1957)
Ted Davis
Brodhead, Wisconsin

Outstanding Classic
N3214C
Bonanza (1954)
Jeff Deaton
Morehead City, North Carolina

Outstanding In Type
N765P
Meyers 200C (1964)
Ben Morphew
McKinney, Texas

Outstanding Classic
N2315P
PA-22-150 (1955)
Richard G. Miller
Dallas Town , Pennsylvania

Outstanding In Type
N180DR
Cessna 180H (1966)
Bryan H. Jorgensen
Wadsworth, Ohio

Outstanding Classic
N3211B
PA-22-150 (1953)
Marshall Teaff
Huntersville, North Carolina

Outstanding In Type
N688V
Beech Bonanza M35 (1960)
George and Janet Powell
Yorktown , Virginia

Contemporary Awards
11 56 12 131/67)

Vintage Seaplane Awards

Best Restored Classic (Over 165

hpj
N195HA
Cessna 195 (1949)
Wade Gillaspie
Huntsville, Texas

Grand Champion
N87DG
Beech Bonanza Custom (1959)
Don and Wendy Gaynor
Englewood, Florida

Grand Champion Seaplane

N12380
Curtiss-Wright Travel Air 15E
Weldon E. Ropp
Lake Wales, Florida

Best Restored Classic (0-100 hpj

N94196
Ercoupe (1946)
Syd Cohen
Wausau, Wisconsin

Best Twin
N7765N
Beech 18 (1959)
Don Binns
Fort Myers, Florida

Best Metal Amphibian

N398CM
Republic RC-3
Charles Malaquins
Daytona Beach, Florida

The annual reverse spring migration to Florida means hun

dreds of pilots point their airplane noses toward Lakeland,
Florida, for what has become for many the kickoff to the
fly-in season. Afew days of nice weather can't hurt, either,
and true to the promises made by the Florida chamber of
commerce, the weather in Lakeland for the week was quite
pleasant and dry. Plenty of neat airplanes showed up, many
piloted by old friends we see year after year. Like this award
winning Beech 18 (left) that belongs to the Greenblatt fam
ily, there was plenty to look at, so let's get started!

Woody Woodpecker adorns the rudder of C.H.

Woodhall ' s 1936 Aeronca C-3, still powered by the
original Aeronca E-113 engine of 36 hp.

The Grand Champion Antique of Sun 'n Fun 2005 is

Ron Tarrson's Spartan Executive, fresh out of the res
toration shops of Waco Classic Aircraft in Battle Creek,
Michigan. The sparkling aircraft was flown to the event
by Waco Classic General Manager Pat Horgan.

Danny Niblett brought his nicely restored Aeronca 7 AC

Champ, a 1946 model. Danny chose a variation on
the Aeronca Chief's color scheme to highlight the lines
of his Champ, which is based near Vienna, Virginia.

James and Catherine Manint of Monticello , Illinois , must

be thrilled with the work done by Sierra Hotel Aero Inc. ,
the current type certificate holder of the Navion . Picked
as an Outstanding Classic, their 1946 Navion has been
transformed into a "going places " machine, complete
with the installation of a Millennium cylinder overhaul of
the IO-470-KCH engine, pumping out 260 hp.

Clayton Malaquins' Republic RC-3 Seabee starts off

the Seabee row on the Sun 'n Fun grounds. Clayton's
Seabee was selected as the Best Metal Amphibian.

The Best Custom Classic (0-100 hpj winner was Jerry Cox
and Scott Rose 's 1947 Luscombe 8F, on display in the com
mercial exhibit section of the Sun 'n Fun grounds.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

15

For a relaxing afternoon of airplane sightsee

ing, it's hard to beat the Lake Parker Sea
plane Splash-In, held over two days during
Sun 'n Fun. The first day features lightplanes
and ultralights, and the following day, Friday,
is devoted to heavier aircraft. Here is Ed
Westlake's Cessna 140 on floats, with Ed
enjoying a pleasant day in the shade.

What could be better

when at the splash-in?
Water, a stick, some
thing to poke at, and
seaplanes up and down
the shoreline. It sounds
like a great afternoon
to me!

Swifts are always present in numbers at Sun 'n Fun, and it's always fun to
see what the Swift folks come up with for color schemes. John Davis Jr.'s
nice gold and red Swift is seen here taxiing out for departure, presumably
back to his home base of Gainesville, Georgia.

Restored a decade
and a half ago by Wel
don "Willie " Ropp and
mounted on a pair of Edo 2435 floats, this Curtiss-Wright Travel Air 15E
was flown again by Willie's daughter, Belle Hutchins (inset), of Lake
Wales. Willie just celebrated his 93rd birthday, and it was great seeing
Willie and the Travel Air at the annual splash-in steak-fry dinner.
16 JUNE 2005

Some airplanes lend

themselves to easy
embellishment, and the
Douglas DC-3 certainly
wears a smile well!
This is Duggy, the flying
ambassador and class
room for the National
Aviation Hall of Fame's
SkyReach Educational
Program. The crew was
busy all week passing
out information about
its program.
The Outstanding WWII Era
trophy winner was this nice
de Havilland DH82A Tiger
Moth belonging to Richard
Epton of Brooks, Georgia.
The 130-hp Gypsy Major
engine will move it along at
a stately 80 mph, while its
biplane wings and leading
edge slats on the upper
surface give the airplane a
landing speed of 45 mph.

The Outstanding Custom

Antique is this Bucker
Jungmeister, owned by
Anthony Smith. Powered by
a 185-hp Warner engine, it
is registered in the United
Kingdom by its British owner,
who also has a place in
Ocala , Florida.

Sun 'n Fun Forums

By Kathie Ernst
One of the new additions to the
Sun 'n Fun Forums area is the
ability to renew an inspection
authorization (IA) or earn credits
toward the FAA's AMT awards. The
program was spearheaded by Sun
'n Fun Forums co-chairman AI Rott
of Lakeland, Florida. Any airframe
and powerplant mechanic can register to renew his or her IA by taking a
total of eight hours of courses or workshops during the event. It makes
attending the fly-in just that much more useful for busy mechanics!

Ryan Leeward , age 14, and his sister,

Allison, who's 12, are learning the art
of fabric covering from Robin Bassett,
a Poly-Fiber instructor. Accompanied by
their dad, Jimmy Leeward, Ryan and
Allison attended a number of forums
at Sun 'n Fun before they tackled the
restoration of a Piper J-3 Cub at their
home on Leeward Air Ranch in
Ocala , Florida.

.,
,t , ,

Instructor Stuart Clark

gently guides the hand of
one of the many folks who
spent time in the welding
workshop. Just as they are
during EAA AirVenture Os
hkosh, the workshops are
always well attended
at Sun 'n Fun.

~.

Savannah Potter learns

the art of metal forming
from volunteer Sun 'n Fun
~w_
KATHIEE ~
instructor Pat Groover (left)
as her proud father, Southwest pilot Ken Potter, looks on.
Ken encouraged his daughter to participate in the various aviation
maintenance workshops because he wanted her to learn how to use
tools. Instructor Groover also showed Savannah how to use the English
wheel. He was impressed with her work and said he was pleased so
many girls were participating in the workshops. He pointed out that
young women tended to do well because they listened carefully to their
instructors and were patient as they worked with the metal. During
EM AirVenture Oshkosh, feel free to bring your attentive youngsters
to VAA's metal shaping tent, located next to the VAA Red Barn-who
knows, you both may learn something new!
.....
~

..

VINTAGE AIRPLANE

17

and Pete Conrad and crew got to

do their own restoration project to
make the orbiting lab habitable, af
ter the spacecraft was damaged dur
ing the launch. Since he bought the
Jenny in 1972, Frank Schelling has
kept at it, one strut at a time, one
connecting rod after another. Talk
about stick-to-itiveness!
Like so many of us, Frank can
trace his fascination with airplanes
to model airplanes. His mom, in an
effort to give him something to do
on a rainy day and keep him out
of her hair, bought Frank a model
airplane kit. He didn't need any
further encouragement; he was
hooked, and hooked good!
Aviation had Frank Schelling in
its grasp, so he earned a degree in
aeronautical engineering from Cal
Poly, San Luis Obispo. After a four
year stint in the Navy, he actively
began to fulfill a dream of having a
World War I airplane. He started col
lecting parts for an SE.5, including a
prop and a Hisso engine purchased
for $500, and while busy picking up
parts here and there, he noticed an
ad in Trade-A-Plane for an original
Curtiss Jenny that was for sale in the
Miami area. After flying from Califor
nia to Florida to look at the project,
he bought it and drove his '67 Chev
elle from California to Miami to pick
it up. His buddy Ray Cleone flew out
to help Frank drive the new trailer
and the car back to the San Francisco
Bay area, making the trip an adven
ture along the way, stopping at Carls
bad Caverns and other fun places.

In 1976, while on a business trip

to the Washington, D.C., area, he
stopped in to visit fellow Jenny re
storer Ken Hyde. Out in the hangar/
shop, Frank noticed a Jenny fuse
lage set up for a Hisso engine instal
lation (the IN-4H model), and with
a little cash and some persuasion,
he bought the fuselage that would
serve as the basis for the airplane
he would eventually restore . Since
he already had a Hisso engine and
didn't really need the parts he'd
collected for an OX-5 powered air
plane, he sold off the extra parts. The
acquisition of the Hisso-configured
fuselage seemed to be the actual
starting point of the restoration
process. It also seemed to be a good
time to be starting.
"I got in it just at the right time,"
said Frank. "There were about four
or five people restoring Jennys at
the time, and if one person didn't
have a part, somebody else did, and
we all cooperated."
Restoring a Jenny isn't done of
ten and is usually looked upon as a
mammoth project. The Curtiss train
ers, like so many of their contem
poraries, were built by many, many
hands, and their restoration requires
the mastering of a number of almost
forgotten skills. Almost each part
will require some form of handwork,
from the cleaning up of a casting for
the parts of the Hisso to the rework
of a wing interplane strut.
For instance, when first built,
each wing interplane strut is cut
from a small slab of spruce, shaped

by hand, and then, to prevent split

ting, each end is wrapped with
copper; the copper is the n nailed
in place, and each nail is secured
with solder. Just in the struts for the
wings, 32 strut ends are made in
this way!
In the fuselage and tail surfaces,
most of the cross members and other
structural members are also similarly
reinforced. You can quickly see how
the man -hours can add up. When
there were hundreds of employees at
Curtiss building Jennys, that work
load was spread across a factory, but
when it's your project, it's just you,
and perhaps a few buddies, to get it
done. It's a challenge for anyone to
complete a project like a Cub or a
Luscombe, so anyone who has re
stored an airplane can empathize
with a Jenny restorer!
Surprisingly, there are more orig
inal pieces in this airplane than one
might think. When asked abo ut
how much of the airplane was orig
inal, Frank responded:
"A lot of it. I'd say abo ut half.
The wings are all new, new wood,
but all original fittings; struts are
all original except for the landing
gear; the tail feathers are all original
except for the vertical fin-tha t's
new. In the fuselage, the four lon
gerons are new, and there are six
uprights where the cabane struts
are and one for the engine support
that are new. One set of floorboards
is new, and the tail post; the rest is
all original."
The inexpensive antique Hisso
Model A engine turned o ut to be
a good find, too. Except for some
damage to the oil sump at the bot
tom, it was remarkably complete,
and incredibly, after checking the
engine over and doing some di
mensional checks of the pistons,
cylinder, etc., it became clear that
it was a low-time engine. Only one
part failed a Magnaflux check-a
The Oshkosh crew consisted of Paul
Seibert, Ron Price, Eric Presten (pilot),
Jerry Impellezzeri, Jim Wright, and Chris
Price (pilot) (not pictured).
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

19

The Jenny's colors are still standard Navy colors today-insignia red, white, and blue, plus aircraft gray.

The Hisso powered Jenny fuselage before its restoration.

connecting rod-and one camshaft

drive was cracked and had to be re
paired. A new rod was found, as was
the drive part, and new bearings
were poured by the Babbitt Bearing
Co. of San jose. It was all part of the
rebuilding process to put the en
gine back to factory tolerances. By
the time the jenny was on the air
port in Wisconsin, it had about 30
hours of total running time.
20

JUNE 2005

One of the distinctive features on

any jenny is the radiator, and the
unit on Frank's airplane is an orig
inal, built especially for the Hisso
engine. As mentioned before, a few
fellows were also restoring jennys
around the country, and jim Nissen,
of Livermore, California, was rebuild
ing his OX-S powered jenny at the
same time as Frank's project was be
ing worked on. Oddly enough, jim's

airplane came with a Hisso radiator,

even though it was powered by an
OX-So And, to make it even better,
jim also had the fuel tank for the jN
4H, so they swapped fuel tanks and
radiators. Frank said in all the time
he's been working on the airplane,
he's never seen another spare of ei
ther part, and yet they were both
there just a few miles away from his
home at that time in Alameda, on
the east side of San Francisco Bay,
and in the hands of a fellow restorer
who needed the parts Frank had on
hand. Remarkable!
Antique airplane restorers are
scroungers and savers of the first
magnitude, and Frank's been saving
all sorts of bits and pieces as he's
come across them. jenny wheels
were high on his list of "save" items,
and he picked the best pair he had
to use on his jN-4. They are unique
in that they are not the usual cross
spoked wheels-they are radial
spoked wheels, which Frank said
are a bit stronger and more robust.
In his quest to create a Navy jenny,
Frank has collected a set of antique
instruments for the cockpit, right
down to a pair of Navy clocks (when

he first restored the Jenny, it had

Navy instruments in all the holes
except the clocks!) . Dave Rogers,
of Instrument Pro in the Bay area,
does a lot of instru ment face work
and has worked on a few of the
faces of the Jenny's instrument,
so he was given the Navy clock
reface work.
Also included in his restoration
is a full set of instrument panel
lights, complete with a pair of
Western Electric Blue Bell batter
ies. The only instrument added to
the panel that was not depicted on
the blueprint was an inclinometer.
After u ns uccessfully trying to get
an inclinometer back from a for
mer old-instrument restorer in New
York state, Frank decided to see if
Rieker co uld still make t h e older
style unit he had sent away. (No,
he still hasn't been able to get th e
original back!) The folks at Rieker,
in Folcroft, Pennsylvania, are still
in business, and have an active in
terest in their older units. Frank
asked if they would still be able to
make an inclinometer shown in an
old catalog:
"You're not the first person to
call," was the response Frank got,
"but we don't have any of the pat
terns to cast the housing for that
stuff; however, I do have an orig
inal of one of the housings, and
if you want to copy it and send it
back, I'll make the glass tubes for
them, fill them and seal them, and
then send you the pieces, and you
assemble them."
"Deal," replied Frank.
Frank's previous experience with
pattern-making came in handy,
and with the Riker original to work
from, he made a pattern and had a
foundry cast fourteen pieces, eleven
of which were usable. Rieker con
tinued to show great interest in
the Jenny project, and when Frank
mentioned that most of his castings
did not clearly duplicate the mark
ings on the face of the inclinometer,
the company offered to lend him
the original impression stamps so
he could mark the faces properly.

What's a

"Hisso?"

1970s-a tad younger Frank Schelling

at the start of his Jenny project.

JIM KOEPNICK

A standard Jenny "dashboard". This

is the forward cockpit. All the instru
ments are original to Navy aircraft of
the period.

For a long time when I first started

hanging around old-airplane people ,
I would occasiona lly hear the term
" Hisso" when they were talk in g
about a particu lar brand of engine.
It took some pestering of a few of
my older friends before the full name
came out ; they were talking about
the American-built Hispano-Su iza en
gines constructed under license by
the Wright-Martin Co. in New Bruns
wick , New Jersey. A quick pawing
though the aeronautical encyclopedia
Aerosphere 1939 revealed the whole
story. The U.S. military wanted more
power fo r its t raining airplanes, and
the French had just the engine. Manu
facturing rights were granted to the
Simplex Automobile Co. of America,
which was subsequently acquired by
the Wright-Martin Co. The term Hisso
was a simpler-to-say contraction of
Hispano-Suiza, and the name stuck.
The Model A was the first effort pro
duced in the States, and it is the type
installed on Frank Schelling's IN-4H.
Like the Curtiss OX-5, it is a water
cooled, eight-cyli nder, gO-degree Vee
type engi ne wh ich produced 150 hp
at 1450 rpm , 60 hp more than the
Curtiss engine's gO hp produced at
1200 rpm .
Each of the two cylinder banks of
the Hisso were cast in one piece, with
four steel cylinder barrels threaded on
the outside and screwed into the cast
ings. The Model A has a displacement
of 718.88 cubic inches. The later
model E, wh ich was also produced
in quantity by Wright-Martin, was the
same basic engine, and turned faster
with a higher compression ratio. The
model E was rated at 180 hp, and later
it was found it could produce up to 190
hp at 1800 rpm .
Hisso engines on operating aircraft
are pretty rare today, but a few are
out there, including the Jenny flown
at Cole Palen 's Old Rh inebeck Aero
drorne (making Frank's the only other
Hisso-powered Jenny flying today) and
on a Travel Air flown by Dennis Trone.
I know there are others, but those two
come to mind right away. Their distinc
tive rumble and the one-piece cylinder
head covers peeking out of each side
of the cowl make them easy to distin
guish from the OX-5.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

21

The Jenny was flown for our cameras by Eric Presten. Our thanks to the Jenny gang (and EAA's photographers and camera ship
pilot Bruce Moore) for getting up so early in the morning for our dawn photo shoot at the Brodhead, Wisconsin, airport.

A number of friends helped Frank

along the way, including Cleone,
Larry Schwafel, Tom Telifson, Newt
Craven, Albert Ward, Ken Hyde,
and Stanley Hiller.
Speaking of Hiller, the Hiller Avi
ation Museum was the site of the
last big part of the restoration: the
assembly and covering of the Jenny.
The Hiller Aviation Museum really
wanted the Jenny for display, in its
unfinished state. Frank cut a deal
with them; the museum could have
it for display, but it would have to
pay for the covering in Irish linen .
Because Frank was in the Navy (and
the actual history of his IN-4H fuse
lage was unknown), he knew which
color scheme he wanted, and re
searched it at the National Museum
of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Flor
ida. Before the paint could be ap
plied, the linen had to be attached,
and that job fell to a crew headed
by Carl Moore. The work was done
in Hollister, California, at Bob and
Charles Hall's Air-Fab. After all the
work that had been put into the
Jenny to that point, it's not surpris
ing that Frank was just as particular
22

JU NE 2005

about the covering job. Ross Walton

of Vintage Aero Fabrics, now located
in Kentucky (previously in Ver
mont), supplied the linen. The cor
rect frayed edge treatment was done,
and Frank was pleased with the end
result. The final color scheme for a
Navy training aircraft was applied,
and then the hundreds of little de
tails that need to be attended to
were accomplished before its first
flight in 86 years.
Frank Schelling's 25 years as a ci
vilian aeronautical engineer gave
him plenty of sheet metal experi
ence, but only his innate ability to
work well with his hands and mind,
and a willingness to learn new
processes, gave him the ability to
complete the Jenny. lilt's not that
tough," he said during our inter
view. liThe way I figured it is that if
some farmer could do it, I could do
it. It just takes persistence .. .! never
looked all the way to the end. Ev
erything I did was a little project in
itself. It's like building a brick house;
you start with one brick, and you set
that one down. Pretty soon you've
got a row of bricks; then you start

another row. That's how I did it."

There were plenty of little bricks
along the way of the Jenny's restora
tion. You might be surprised to hear
that this airplane is his only restora
tion project . If that's his first one, I
can't wait to see how his next proj
ect, a Travel Air 4000, will turn out.
Oh, by the way, he doesn't think it
will take another 31 years!
~
Resources:
Dave Rogers is now at:
Legacy Instruments
5214 Diamond Heights Blvd., Suite F-633
San FranCiSCO, CA 94131
Phone: 415-309-6239
Fax: 415-550-1697
E-mail: /egacy.a ircra(t@pachell.l1et

www./egacyinstnll1lellts.com
Ross Walton, supplier of vintage cover
ing material s, can be reached at:
316 Creekwood Drive
Bardstown, KY 40004
Phone: 502-349-1429
Fax: 502-349-1428
E-mail: r05s@Vil1tageaerofahrics.col11

www.vintageaerofahrics.coln
Air-Fab
Building 19
90 Airport Drive
Hollister Muncipal Airport
Hollister, CA 95023
831-636-1889

We supply Quality workmanship with a quick turnaround for a price you'll like.
CRANKSHAFT GRINDING CAMSHAFT GRINDING CONNECTING RODS ROCKER ARMS TAPPET BODIES COUNTERWEIGHTS
CRANKSHAFT BALANCING MAGNAFLUXING STARTER ADAPTERS ULTRASONIC INSPECTIONS CUSTOM MACHINING PLATING
At Aircraft Specialties Services asp is the goal. The
first part of asp is the quality which is the watch word;
every part is re-machined to the tightest Original
Equipment Manufacturers specifications. Our quality
control continually tests repairs and certifies new repairs to
keep the cost of aircraft engine maintenance down. The
quality really does go in each re-machined part before the
yellow tag goes on.
Service is the second leg of the triad . Expert personnel
with years of experience and the very latest in equipment
assures you more than just a serviceable part. We
provide you parts in like new condition in a timely manner,

with fast turn around to keep your plane or a customer's

plane in the air not on the ground.
Last and by no means least is price. We work hard to
provide as many safe certified repairs as possible. We
see thousands of engines and parts each year so we are
constantly working on new repairs to save you money.
Our repairs cost you a fraction of the price of a new part.
Keeping general aviation alive and well is important to us,
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repairs at a price you can afford. You get this and more
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-

- I

2860 N. Sheridan Road, Tulsa, OK 74115 Phone: 918-836-6872 Fax: 918-836-4419

Want To Start a VAA Chapter?

It's easy to start a VAA Chapter! All you need
to get started is five Vintage enthusiasts.
Then, contact the EAA Chapter Office at 920
426-4876, or at chapters@eaa.org to obtain an
EAA Chapter Starter Kit. They have ways to
help you contact all the Vintage members in
your area, plus, they'll walk you through the
New Chapter process.

NEW JERSEY
Andover, NJ, VAA Ch. 7

Meeting 1st Sun., 10:00 AM

Andover Aeroflex Airport

Joe Tapp, President

Phone: 908-872-3821

Email: joetapp@comcast.net

CALIFORNIA

KANSAS

OHIO

Hayward, CA, VAA Ch. 29

Meeting 2nd Thurs., 7:00 PM
Hayward Airport, Hangar #7
William Field, President
Phone: 510-784-1168
Email: wfield49@aol.com

Overland Park, KS, VAA Ch. 16

Meeting 3rd Fri., 7:00 PM
Gardner Municipal Airport-Term Bldg.
Gerald Gippner, President
Phone: 913-764-8512
Email: gipp@email.msn.com

Delaware, OH, VAA Ch. 27

Meeting 2nd Sat., 8:30 AM
Delaware Municipal Airport (DLZ) Term.
Bldg
Roger Brown, President
Phone: 740-965-9252
Email: saUynroger@aol.com

LOUISIANA

Troy, OH, VAA Ch. 36

Meeting 3rd Sun., Noon

For Meeting Location Contact:

Richard Amrhein, President

Phone: 937-335-1444

Email: dickandpatti@aol.com

Sacramento, CA, VAA Ch. 25

Meeting 2nd Sat., 10:00 AM
For Location Contact:
Larry Muffly, President
Phone: 916-424-5570
Email: ezflyerca@comcast.com

flORIDA
Lakeland, FL, VAA Ch. 1
Meeting 2nd Sat., aU day.
For Location Contact:
Michael Quinlan, President
Phone: 352-288-0979
Email: mikegq77@comcast.com

ILLINOIS
Lansing, IL, VAA Ch. 26
For Time & Location Contact:
Peter Bayer, President
Phone: 630-922-3387
Email: c180bayer@aol.com

FLORIDA
Lakeland, FL, VAA Ch. 1
Meeting 2nd Sat., aU day.
For Location Contact:
Michael Quinlan, President
Phone: 352-288-0979
Email: mikegq77@comcast.com

ILLINOIS
Lansing, IL, VAA Ch. 26
For Time & Location Contact:
Peter Bayer, President
Phone: 630-922-3387
Email: c180bayer@aol.com

New Iberia, LA, VAA Ch. 30

Meeting 1st Sun., 9:00 AM
For Location Contact:
Roland Denison, President
Phone: 337-367-9826
Email: vaa30@cox.net

MICHIGAN
Niles, MI, VAA Ch. 35
Meeting 2nd Sat., 10:00 AM
Niles, MI (3TR) Term. Bldg.
Kenneth Kasner, President
Phone: 269-699-7064
Email: KKasner@comcast.net

MINNESOTA
Albert Lea, MN, VAA Ch. 13
Meeting 4th Thurs., 7:30 PM
Albert Lea MN Municipal Airport
William Koza, President
Phone: 507-373-9062
Email: bjkalmco@deskmedia.com

NEBRASKA
Plattsmouth, NE, VAA Ch. 31
Meeting 1st Sat., 10:30 AM
Plattsmouth Airport Term Bldg.
Keith Howard, President
Phone: 402-291-2103
Email: howardkj@worldnet.att.net

Columbus, OH, VAA Ch. 38

Meeting 3rd Wed., 6:00 PM

For Meeting Location Contact:

Perry Chappano, President

Phone: (614) 496-3423

Email: pmc@cwpU.com

OKLAHOMA
Tulsa, OK, VAA Ch. 10

Meeting 4th Thurs., 7:30 PM

Hardesty Library

Christopher McGuire, President

Phone: 918-341-6798

E-mail: cmcguire@att.net

SOUTH CAROLINA
Cross, SC, VAA Ch. 3

For Time & Location Contact:

Morton Lester, President

Phone: 276-638-8783

TEXAS
Houston, TX, VAA Ch. 2

Meeting 4th Sun., 2:00 PM

Dry Creek Airport Cypress, TX

Merrill Morong, President

Phone: 281-353-7004

E-mail: mcmorong@pdq.net

NEW HAMPSHIRE
INDIANA
Auburn, IN, VAA Ch. 37
Meeting 4th Wed., 7:00 PM
Dekalb Co. Airport Term. Bldg.
Tim Fox, President
Phone: 260-486-8126
E-mai~ tim@flyingshepherds.com
24

JUNE 200 5

North Hampton, NH, VAA Ch. 15

Meeting 2nd Sat., 11:00 AM
Hampton Airfield, hangar SW corner
Joseph Dion, President
Phone: 603-539-7168
Email: president@vaa15.org
Website: www.vaa15.org

WISCONSIN
Brookfield, WI, VAA Ch.ll

Meeting 1st Mon., 7:30 PM

Capitol Airport

George Meade, President

Phone: 414-962-2428

Email: gameade@sbcglobal.net

Al Menasco

continued from page 13

what was called a racehorse start. If

the wind was from the wrong direc
tion, they took off opposite to the
counterclockwise direction of the
course, circling a scattering pylon
before entering the first lap on th e
proper course.
"I was in a grandstand as a guest
of some prominent people instead of
my usual place at the starting line.
liThe flag was dropped, and all
the planes started. Right in front on
the inside pole comes this Miss San
Francisco. It hopped off the ground
and was in the air-level with the
eye in the grandstand, while the
others were still lumbering along
down there on the field , and as it
passed th e grandstand the wheels
disappeared, the landing gear came
up, and went out of sight. Nobody
had ever seen that happen except
to a bird.
liThe grandstand came undone. He
was down around that scattering py
lon and back on the 10-mile course
and out of sight before some of the
other guys were barely airborne.
"That was the first sight of the re
traction landing gear to this big au
dience at the National Air Races. In
those days it was a 10-day meet-the
Olympics of the air. Everything was
done to display aircraft. The Army,
Navy, Marine Corps, and foreign
governments participated. Many
new types of aircraft were displayed
and demonstrated each year.
"It was a great show. It was done
by myoid friend and high school
pal, Cliff Henderson, who had th e
genius of P.T. Barnum in my book.
He alternated between Los Angeles
and Cleveland for the 12 years of
popularity, shortened at the end to
four days . Menasco engines domi
nated most events, and finally in
1937 we succeeded the ultimate
victory of winning the Thompson
Trophy Race, the unlimited against
engines of as high as 1,800 cu
bic inches displacement with our
model C6S-4 engine, making the

ElECTRICAl

CONDUIT

ASSEMBliES

fastest time in the last lap of any

American machine in the history of
the event.
MIL SPEC and RFI SHIELDING
"This boy, Rudy Kling, did the
CONDUIT ASSEMBLIES custom made
job as an embryo pilot. I believe
per your specifications
at the time he only had about 300
Original equipment style Braided
hours in the air-and that was our
Conduits in Aluminum, Brass or
ultimate success. It went on, as you
Stainless Steel
know, to the great things that are
going on today.
We carry a complete line of AN - MS
Electrical Fittings, Backshell Adapters
liThe eventual change from
and Specialty Fittings
aircraft engines to landing gears
seems a fitting thing, because I've
We also have full machine shop
described how landing gear was
capabilities for any custom
applications you may require.
also part of the history of aircraft
development by some great guys,
Rebuild your Warbird back to
and now Menasco is known for
Original!
landing gear."
In 1969 Al and Julie were invited
back to Japan to celebrate the 53rd
anniversary of Art Smith and AI's
tours of Japan in 1916 and 1917.
AIR/FLEX INDUSTRIES
Their host was the Mikimoto Pearl
2538 SUPPLY STREET, POMONA, CA 91767

Co., located on an island off the

Tel . 909392-8474

AI RFLEXIN DUSTRI ES .COM

coast of Japan. It was on this island

that Art and Al had demonstrated ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
their aircraft in 1917. The Japanese
tr eated them royally, wined and
dined them, and they appeared on
television . Al was presented with
a handsome album made up of
some of the photos th e Japanese
had taken in 1917. Al and Julie also
played golf with the pres ident of
the company and another officer.
Qulie won!)
AI's brother, Milton , was seven
years older than Al and was the one
who took him in during his turbu
Aircraft Jewelry
A. Silver Jet Ea rrings
lent younger days. He also saw that
V04426
$13.99*
Al went back to school. In 1912-13
B. Gold tone Jet Earrings
at Milton's urging, Al took evening
with Blue Beads
V04421
$9.99*
classes at Polytech in Los Angeles in
C. Aviation Charm Bracelet
machine shop and engines. Milton
V04441
$19.99*
later became a well-known artist, es
with Crystal Beads
D. Large Ba rnsto rm ers Pin
pecially in England and Kentucky
V04428
$9.99*
for his landscapes and horse pic
E. Small Barnstormers Pin
tures. His use of color and shadow
V04429
$5.99*
To Order: Call: 1-800-843-3612
was outstanding. While in Kentucky
'price does not refl ect sales lax or shipping and handling
he was commissioned to paint most
of the famous thoroughbreds of his
day. Milton died in 1978, a famous
and respected artist.
......
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

25

BY

H.G. FRAUTSCHY

THIS MONTH'S MYSTERY PLANE COMES TO US FROM THE EAA LIBRARY. IT'S JUST ONE

PHOTOGRAPH FROM AN ENTIRE PHOTO ALBUM THAT MAKES UP THE GARNER P. EMERSON

COLLECTION, WHICH WAS RECENTLY DONATED BY EAA MEMBER BOB HIGHLEY.

Send your answer to EAA, Vintage

Airplane, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh,
WI 54903-3086. Your answer needs
to be in no later than July 10 for
inclusion in the September 2005
issue of Vintage Ai1plane.
You can also send your response
via e-mail. Send your answer to
mysteryplane@eaa.org. Be sure to
include your name, city, and state
in the body of your note, and put
I/(Month) Mystery Plane" in the
subject line.

MARCH'S

The March Mystery Plane (okay,

so it's an airship!) came to us from a
group ofphotos sent to us many years
ago by longtime member Ted Bus
inger. Here's our first response, from
Donnie Smith of Winston-Salem,
North Carolina:
liThe March 2005 Mystery 'Plane'
is the all-metal airship known as
26

JUNE 2005

MYSTERY

ANSWER

The City of Glendale. It was built by

Captain Thomas Benton Slate of the
Slate Aircraft Co. in the late 1920s.
The photo (which is one of the best
I've ever seen of the uniqu e ship)
was most likely of the December
1929 flight attempt. A seam on
the metal hull failed due to a gas
over-pressure situation preventing
a flight. The ship was eventually

dismantled and the hangar sold to

a farm in Arizona. I gleaned this
info from the October 1961 edition
of Buoyant Flight-the bimonthly
journal of the Lighter-Than-Air So
ciety (www.blimpinfo.com). of which
I'm a member."
From Scott Santa Maria of
Oakhurst, California, we have a bit
more:

"The Mystery Plane in the March

issue is the airship City of Glendale.
It was built by Thomas Benton Slate,
the inventor and co-owner of Prest
Air Devices, a company in New York
that made dry ice. He left the com
pany in 1925 and began construc
tion of his airship in 1926 at Grand
Central Airport in Glendale.
"The ship was made of corru
gated duralumin skin instead of
fabric and was to feature a steam
engine. If I recall correctly from
what I read a number of years ago,
it was supposed to be a tractor pro
peller on the bow of the ship.
"The ship came out of its hangar
after completion in December 1929,
but unfortunately the heat of the
sun expanded the skin and gas in
side, resulting in loss of its lifting
gas and causing the ship to fall to
the ground. I recently read that the
problem was found to be a relief
valve and that due to the design of
the ship it would have needed to be
taken nearly completely apart to fix,
so it was never repaired or flown.
"The U.S. Navy did success
fully fly a metal-skinned ship; it
was smooth-skinned, unlike Slate's
ship. The ZMC-2, Zeppelin Metal
Clad 2, first flew August 20, 1929.
It was 150 feet long and powered
by two Wright Whirlwind engines
giving it a maximum speed of 70
mph. The ZMC-2 was decommis
sioned in 1941."
Other correct answers were re
ceived from Richard Maresh, Ful
lerton, California; M. Bub Borman,
Dallas, Texas; Dave Graebner, Eads,
Tennessee; and via air mail from
Camden, Australia , a note from
Dave Dent. In his note, Ed Samp
son of Belview, Minnesota, men
tioned his father was present at the
attempted first flight of the Slate.
You can read a pretty complete ac
count of the Slate in John Under
wood's now long-out-of-print book,

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Sept. 9-11

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Aug. 13-14

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Sept. 10-11

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Sept. 10-11

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VINTAGE AIRPLANE

27

Something to

buy,

sell

or trade?

Classified Word Ads: $5.50 per 10 words, 180 words maximum, with boldface lead-in on first line.
Classified Display Ads: One column wide (2.167 inches) by 1, 2, or 3 inches high at $20 per inch. Black and white only, and no
frequency discounts.
Advertising Closing Dates: 10th of second month prior to desired issue date (Le., January 10 is the closing date for the March issue). VAA
reserves the right to reject any advertising in conflict with its policies. Rates cover one insertion per issue. Classified ads are not accepted
via phone. Payment must accompany order. Word ads may be sent via fax (920-426-4828) or e-mail (classads@eaa.org) using credit card
payment (all cards accepted). Include name on card, complete address, type of card, card number, and expiration date. Make checks payable to
EM. Address advertising correspondence to EM Publications Classified Ad Manager, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086
BABBITT BEARING SERVICE - rod
bearings,mainbearings,bushings,master
rods, valves, piston rings. Call us Toll Free
1-800-233-6934, e-mail ramremfg@ao/.
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Flying wires available. 1994 pricing.
Visit www.flyingwires.com or call
800-517-9278.
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A Website with the Pilot in Mind
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For Sale-One of a kind TIGER MOTH

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For Sale - 1939 Spartan Executive,

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3500TT, 10 SMOH. 214-354-6418,
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Find my name and address in the
Officers and Directors listing and call
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28

JUNE 2 005

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3400 Chelsea Ave, Memphis, TN 38106

www.desser.com

Ken Despain
Sal ine, M I
Owns Piper PA22/20
Solo license - 1962
Private license - 1996
Belongs to EM, AOPA, VM
Affiliated with Rotary
International
Membe r of EM Chapter
190 out of Adria n, MI
Flies with M ichiga n Flyers
Flying Clu b

"I've had my plane insured by AUA for fou r years

now and found their ra tes to be very reasonab le.
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- Ken Despain

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800-727-3823
Fly with the pros... fly with AUA Inc.

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VINTAGE

AIRCRAFT

ASSOCIATION

OFFICERS
President

Vice President

Geoff Robison
1521 E. MacGregor Dr.
New Haven, IN 46774
260-493-4724
chie{702S@ao/.coI1l

2448 Lough Lane

Hartford, WI 53027
262-673-5885

George Daubner

vaaflyboy@msll.(Onl

Secretary

Treasurer

Steve Nesse

Charles W. Harris

2009 Highland Ave.

Albert Lea, MN 56007
507-373-1674
stnes@deskll1edia.cOlll

7215 East 46th St.

Tulsa, OK 74147
918-622-8400

(wh@hvsu.com

DIRECTORS
Steve Bender
85 Brush Hill Road
Sherborn, MA 01770
508-653-7557
sst JO@comcast.11et

David Bennett
P.O. Box 1188

Roseville, CA 95678
916-645-8370
l1ntiqllcr@illrea clt ."com

John Berendt

Dale A. Gustafson
7724 Shady Hills Dr.
317 -293-4430
da/e(aye(g'msn.cul11
Jeannie Hill
P.O. Box 328
Harvard, II. 60033-0328
815-943-7205
dillghao@uwc.lIet

7645 Echo Point Rd.

Espie "Butch" Joyce

704 N. Regional Rd.
Greensboro, NC 27409

507-263-2414

mjbfcllld@rcollllect.cum

336-668-3650
willrisock@no/.com

Robert C. "Bob" Brauer

9345 S. Hoyne
Chicago, II. 60620
773-779-2105
plwtupilot@ao/. (o m

Steve Krog
1002 Heather Ln.
Hartford, WI 53027
262-966-7627
sskrog@noJ.com

Dave Clark
635 Vestal Lane

Robert D. "Bob" Lumley

John S. Copeland
I A Deacon Street
Northborough, MA 01532
508-393-4775

cupe/and l@jllllO,com

1265 South 124th St.

Brookfield, WI 53005
262-782-2633
IUlllper@execpc.com
Gene Morris
5936 Steve Court
Roanoke, TX 76262
817-491-9110
gellemorris(g)ev I .lIet

Phil Coulson

Dean Richardson

28415 Springbrook Dr.

Lawton, M I 49065
269-624-6490
rcoII/sonS16@cs .(ul1l

1429 Kings Lynn Rd

Stoughton, WI 53589

Roger Gomoll
889 1 Airport Rd, Box C2

S.H. aWes" Schmid

2359 Lefeber Avenue
Wauwatosa, WI 53213

Blaine, MN 55449
763-786-3342
pledgedrive@msllcolrl

608-877-8485

dar1gJ aprilaire.col11

414-771-1545
sllscllmid@milwpc.colII

DIRECTORS

EMERITUS

Gene Chase
2159 Carlton Rd.
Oshkosh, W I 54904
920-231-5002
GRCHA@cJwrter.llet

ENJOY THE MANY BENEFITS OF EAA AND

THE EAA VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

E.E. "Buck" Hilbert

P.O. Box 424
Union, IL 60180
815-923-4591
b7ac@mc.llet

Ronald C. Fritz
15401 Sparta Ave.
Kent City, MI 49330
616-678-5012
rFritz@patllwtlYl1et.cOl1l

EAA Aviation Center, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh WI 54903-3086

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lAC

Membership in the Experimental Aircraft

Association, Inc. is $40 for one year, includ
ing 12 iss ues of SPORT AVIATION . Famil y
membership is an add itiona l $10 annually.
Junior Membership (u nde r 19 years of age)
is available at $23 annually. All major credit
cards accepted for mem bership. (Add $16 for
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Current EAA m embers may jo in th e

Internatio nal Aerobatic Club, Inc. Divi
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Cu rren t EAA m embers ma y add EAA
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cluded). (A dd $16 for Foreign Postage.)

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Current EAA mem b ers m ay jo in th e
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d uded). (Add $7 for Foreign Postage,)

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Current EAA members may join the EAA
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EAA Membership, WARBIRDS ma ga
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Membership dues to EAA and its divisions are not tax deductible as charitable contributions
Copyright 2005 by the EM Vintage Aircraft Association
All rights reserved.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE (USPS 062-750; ISSN 0091-6943) is published and owned exclusively by the EM Vintage Aircraft Association of the EXpe<imental Aircraft Association and is published monthly at EM
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30

JUNE 2005

continued from page 9

tionary landing if you recognized
that any of those things might be
affecting your safety?
The second element of the check
list is the Aircraft. Is your aircraft as
ready as you might be for the flight?
Have all the required inspections
been conducted? Is all the equip
ment working as it should? If it is
a rental aircraft, is it one you are
familiar with and current in, or is
it one that you have perhaps only
flown once or twice? Again, if it is
a rental aircraft, do you know how
to operate all the installed equip
ment? If the aircraft has an autopi
lot, do you know how to use it?
Do you have sufficient fuel and
oil? Are you within the weight and
balance envelope? Have you con
sidered the performance capabili
ties of your aircraft, especially if you
will be flying to a different location
that might create density altitude
considerations that you are not used
to? Have you established whether
you will have performance available
over that required, considering your
gross weight, the load distribution,
and the density altitude?
Other checklist items that would
fall in the Aircraft category would
be current charts and approach
plates, a current AFD (airport facil
ity directory), a current database in
your GPS, clothing suitable for a
potential forced landing in inhos
pitable territory, as well as survival
gear appropriate for the terrain you
will be flying over.
Okay, you've run those checklists
and everything looks good. Now
we have to check the environment.
When the environment is men
tioned, almost all of us immediately
think of the weather. Have you
got current forecasts and reports?
Have you been paying attention to
weather trends several days prior
to, and up until, the flight? Does
the weather meet your personal
minimums? Are the ceilings and
visibilities, both reported as well as
forecast, within your pilot capabili

ties? For example, if you are a pilot

used to flying in the severe clear of
the desert southwest, are you pre
pared to fly in the haze found in the
Smokies? If you are an instrument
rated pilot and will have to fly an
approach to minimums, have you
predetermined how many missed
approaches you will fly before di
verting? (My personal minimum is
one!)

Okay, you've run

those checklists
and everything
looks good.
Let's look at the airports we are
planning to use (while not forget
ting potential alternate airports).
Will runway lengths and alignment
be sufficient for our performance
and skill? Don't forget that if you
are a flatland, sea-level pilot, things
will be much different if you are fly
ing into and out of a high moun
tain airport. Will runway alignment
create crosswind challenges beyond
your skill level? If you are only used
to flying at a small, one-runway,
rural airport, are you prepared to
find your way around the maze of
taxiways and runways you might
encounter at the large metropoli
tan airport you have planned as a
fuel stop? Do you have the appro
priate taxi charts and know how
to request progressive taxi instruc
tions? And don't forget that there
may very well be numerous FBOs
at that airport. Do you know which
one you will be taxiing to?
The last element in the "PAVE"
checklist is External Pressures, and I
find this is the one that quite often
creates the greatest challenge. So
often we do a great job of planning
the trip and ensuring that the other

elements of the checklist have met

our personal minimums, but we
forget to include the allowance for
potential delays. Whenever plan
ning a trip, you should always re
member the admonition: "Time to
spare...go by air."
It is so sad that the accident re
cords are filled with fatalities that oc
curred as a result of get-there-itis. We
absolutely have to have alternative
plans! Have you allowed for delays?
Have you briefed your passengers
about the possibilities of delays or di
versions? Do you have the discipline
to tell your passengers, or your boss,
that the flight cannot be made? Will
you allow them to push you into go
ing when your inner voice is shout
ing "Don't Go!" If the flight is being
made to meet someone, are they
aware of those same possibilities?
Have you made arrangements for
alternative transportation? Have
you a credit card and telephone
numbers available if the need for al
ternative plans arises? Do you have
appropriate clothing and personal
needs in the event of an unex
pected stay? Have you ensured that
your last fuel stop is more than 100
miles from your destination? If you
haven't, you might be tempted to
stretch your fuel minimums right
into a dead stick landing in some
farmer's field.
If, after running the checklist I
have just described, you find no mar
ginal items, then you have certainly
PAVEd your way to a safe flight. But
just because you have been able to
make a go" decision, it does not
mean that your decision-making
chores are over. It will be an ongoing
process throughout the entire flight.
Next month we will look at the
CARE checklist that can help us en
sure that the flight will remain safe.
/I

Doug Stewart is the 2004 National

CFI of the Year, a Master CFI, and a
DPE. He operates DSFI Inc. (www.ds
flight.com), based at the Columbia
........
County Airport (lBl).
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

31

AUGUST 20-Laurinburg-Maxton, NC-Ercoupe Owners

--"1ft

..- )
""
,..~,. ,J,MNEWMAN
9f

Club Awesome August Invitational. North/South Caro

lina members and guests. Lunch, awards, Young Eagles
Flights. Info: 336-342-5629 or bandman@netpath-rc.net
AUGUST 20-Newark, OH-Newark-Heath Airport (VTA).
EAA Ch. 402 Fly-In Breakfast. Info Tom, 740-587-2312
or tmc@alink.com
AUGUST 20-Niles, MI-Jerry Tyler Memorial Airport (3TR) .
VAA Ch. 35 Corn and Sausage Roast. llam-3pm. Rain
date August 20. Donations $5 adults, $3 children 12-yrs
and under. All you can eat. Info: Len, 269-684-6566.
SEPTEMBER 3-Marion, IN-(MZZ) Fly/In Cruise/In. Info:

The following list ofcoming events is furnished to au: readers

as a matter of information only and does not constitute ap
www.FlyInCruiseIn.com.
proval, sponsorship, involvement, control or direction or any
event (fly-in, seminars, fly market, etc.) listed. To su~mlt an SEPTEMBER 3-Prosser, WA-EAA Ch. 391's 22nd Annual
Labor Day Weekend Prosser Fly-In. Info: 509-735-1664.
event send the information via mail to: Vintage AIrplane,
P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. Or e-mail the OCTOBER 5-9- Tullahoma, TN-"1932 to 2005-The Tradition
Lives: Year of the Staggerwing" Staggerwing, Twin Beech 18,
information to: vintageaircraft@eaa.org. Information should
Bonanza, Baron, Beech owners & enthusiasts, Sponsored by
be received four months prior to the event date.
JUNE IO-12-Arlington, TX-Gainesville Municipal
Airport (GLE). Texas Ch. Antique Airplane Assn. 42nd
Annual Fly-In. Info: Jim, 817-468-1571
JUNE 16-19-St. Louis, MO-Dauster Flying Field, Creve
Coeur Airport (lHO). American Waco Club Fly-In.
Info: Phil Coulson, 269-624-6490 or rcoulson516@cs.com,

www.americanwacoclub.com
JUNE 2S-Prosser, WA-EAA Ch. 391 Fly. Info: 509-735-1664.
JUNE 25-26--Bowling Green, OH-Wood County Airport
(lGO). EAA Ch. 582, Plane Fun fly-in, 9am-5pm
each day. Pancake breakfast and food all day. Young
Eagles rides, warbirds, homebuilts, vintage, and car
show (Saturday only). Info: Brian, 419-351-3374 or
brianmacieod@juno.com or www.eaa5S2.org
JULY 8-IO-Alliance, OH-Barber Airport (201) 33rd
Annual Fly-In and Reunion sponsored by Taylorcraft
Foundation, Owner's Club, and Factory Old-Timer's.
Breakfast served Sat & Sun by EAA Ch. 82. Info: www.
taylorcraft.org or 330-823-1168.
JULY IO-IS-Dearborn, MI-Grosse Ile Municipal Airport.
In1'l Cessna 170 37th Annual Convention. Info: 936
369-4362 or www.cessna170.org.
JULY 11-14--McCaU, ID-McCall Airport. Cessna 180/185
In1'l Convention. Many fun things planned. Call for hotel
and other info: 530-622-8816 or mullettj@cwnet.com.
JULY 22-2S-Waupaca, WI-Waupaca Airport (PCZ). 2005
Annual Cessna and Piper Owner Convention & Fly-In.
Info: 888-692-3776 ext. 118 or www.cessnaowner.orgor

www.piperowner.org.
AUGUST 6-7-Santa Paula, CA-(SZP) Santa Paula 75th Anni
versary Air Fair. Exhibits, vintage and experimental aircraft

displays, flybys, hangar displays, vendor booths, dinner

dance, and other community activities. Info: 805-642-3315.
AUGUST 7-Queen City, MO-Applegate Airport 18th Annual
Watermelon Fly-In. 2 PM 'til dark. Info: 660-766-2644.
AUGUST 19-21-Alliance, OH-Barber Airport (2Dl). 7th An
nual Ohio Aeronca Aviators Fly-In. Join us for a relaxing
weekend of fun, food, friendship and flying. Breakfast
served by EAA Ch. 82 Sat & Sun, 7am-l1am. Camping on
field, local lodging and transportation available. Forums on
Saturday. Info: Brian, 216-337-5643 or bwmatzllac@yahoo.
com or www.oaafly-In.com
32

JUNE 2005

the Staggerwing Museum Foundation, Staggerwing Club,

Twin Beech 18 Society, Bonanza/Baron Museum, Travel Air
Division, & Twin Bonanza Assn. Info: 931-455-1974
SEPTEMBER 16-17-Bartlesville, OK-Frank Phillips Field
(BVO). 49th Annual Tulsa Regional Fly-In. Info:
www.tulsaflyin.com or Charlie Harris at 918-622-8400.
SEPTEMBER 17-18-Rock Falls, IL-Whiteside County
Airport (SQI). North Central EAA "Old Fashioned" Fly
In. Forums, workshops, fly-market, camping, air rally,
awards, food & exhibitors. Info www.nceaa.org
SEPTEMBER 23-2S-Sonoma, CA-Sonoma Skypark (OQ9).
23rd Annual West Coast Travel Air Reunion. Come to
wine country for the largest gathering of Vintage Travel
Airs. Info: 925-689-8182.
SEPTEMBER 24--0ntario, OR-Ontario Air Faire-Breakfast
by EAA Ch. 837. Large warbird collection, acro airshow,
car show, stage entertainment. Free admission. Info:
Roger, 208-739-3979 or rlstps@aol.com
OCTOBER 1-2-Midland, TX-Midland Int'l Airport. FINA
CAF AIRSHO 2005 will commemorate 60th Anniversary
of the end of World War II. Info: 432-563-1000 x. 2231
or publicrelations@cafhq.org

REGIONAL FLY-IN SCHEDULE

Rocky Mountain
EAA Regional Fly-In
June 25-26, 2005
Watkins, CO (FTG)
www.rmrfi.org

Virginia State EAA Fly-In

October 1-2,2005
Petersburg, VA (PTB)
www.vaeaa.org

Northwest EAA Fly-In

Ju ly 6-10, 2005
Arlington, WA (AWO)

www.nweaa.org

EAA Southeast
Regional Fly-In
October 7-9, 2004
Evergreen, AL (GZH)

www.serfi.org

EAA AirVenture

Oshkosh 2005
July 25-31, 2005
Oshkosh, WI (OSH)
www.airventure.org
EAA Mid-Eastern Fly-In
August 26-28, 2005

Marion, OH (MNN)

Copperstate Regional

EAA Fly-In
October 6-9, 2005
Phoenix, AZ (A39)
www.copperstate. org

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